Results:
Montpellier 1-1 PSG
Lille 1-0 Lorient
Bordeaux 0-2 Monaco
Evian 1-1 Sochaux
Lyon 4-0 Nice
Nantes 2-0 Bastia
Rennes 2-1 Reims
Valenciennes 3-0 Toulouse
Ajaccio 0-1 St Etienne
Guingamp 1-3 Marseille
Player of the Weekend:
Yoann Gourcuff (Lyon):
A fabulous performance from a man who has simply not lived up to expectations at Lyon. Two assists followed by a sumptuous free-kick rounded off a magnificent display from the Frenchman. His link up play with Clement Grenier (Who came close to this award) was slick all game. If Gourcuff can perform like this every week, Lyon are in with a real shout. The Player still can’t confirm he will stay at Lyon, but after this weekend’s performance, the whole of Ligue 1 are hoping that he does.
Surprise of the weekend:
Layvin Kurzawa (Monaco):
All eyes on are the likes of Falcao, Abidal, Carvalho, Moutinho and Rodriquez, but Monaco left back Layvin Kurzawa had a better game than all of them. He looked very tidy in both defence and coming forward. The 20 year old has been overlooked by France’s youth set-ups over the last few years, but on Saturday’s evidence, you wonder why. No wonder Abidal is being played at centre-back.
Disappointment of the week:
Nicolas N’Koulou (Marseille):
The 23 year old has been touted as Marseille’s best player these past few years and as one of Ligue 1’s greatest talents. This weekend, he had a night to forget, however. He looked shaky all of the first half and despite an awful performance from the player, gifted Yatabare a goal in the second half when he was caught napping on the ball in his own area. Luckily, we all presume this was merely a blip and he will have much better games this season.
Worst Performance of the weekend:
Guingamp:
Nobody expected too much, but against Marseille on Sunday night, they were simply awful. Their defence was chaotic to say the least and they didn’t have anything going forward. Ligue two goal machine Yatabare clearly couldn’t handle the step up to the top division- a point proved when he hit an awful penalty straight at Mandanda. Yatabare did score, but only when gifted a goal by the usually solid OM centre-back Nicolas NKoulou. Marseille were good going forward, Payet in particular, but Guingamp made them look world class.They were better in the second half, but they are going down without a doubt if they don’t get some talent in by the end of this window.
Hero of the Weekend:
Mevlut Erding (Rennes):
The 26 year old Turkish striker has served Ligue 1 well, having played in it all of his career since 2004. How fitting it was therefore that on his 200th performance in the division, he scored Rennes’ winner to give them a 2-1 win over Reims. Many more games to come we hope.
